On November 5, 2026 the State Council General Office published its 2027 holiday notice (Guoban Famingdian [2026] No. 10): Spring Festival runs February 5 to 13, nine consecutive days, with make-up workdays on Sunday January 31 and Sunday February 14. And the 240-hour visa-free transit rule now covers 57 countries and 65 ports — and 240 hours is exactly ten days. The policy window and the holiday window now line up almost perfectly; most travel writing has not noticed.
Official text, not a projection — and note the two February make-up workdays.
| Holiday | Official 2027 dates | Days off | Make-up workdays |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year | Fri Jan 1 – Sun Jan 3 | 3 | None |
| Spring Festival | Fri Feb 5 (New Year's Eve) – Sat Feb 13 | 9 | Sun Jan 31, Sun Feb 14 |
| Qingming | Sat Apr 3 – Mon Apr 5 | 3 | None |
| Labour Day | Sat May 1 – Wed May 5 | 5 | Sat May 8 |
| Dragon Boat | Wed Jun 9 | 1 | None |
| Mid-Autumn | Wed Sep 15 | 1 | None |
| National Day | Fri Oct 1 – Thu Oct 7 | 7 | Sun Sep 26, Sat Oct 9 |
Chinese New Year's Day is Saturday February 6, 2027, opening the Year of the Goat (丁未羊年, dīngwèi yángnián). Statutory entitlement is 13 days a year since the 2025 revision; anything above that is weekends and swapped working days.
Spring Festival route to ten days: take Thursday February 4 as leave and travel February 4–13 — ten consecutive days ending on a Saturday, the highest-value block of the year and the most crowded.
February 14 is a working Sunday: offices and factories run normally, trains fill with commuters, hotel rates do not drop. A fine day to fly home, a poor day to sightsee.
China currently grants 30-day unilateral visa-free entry to 50 countries and has full mutual exemption with 29 — but 48 of those unilateral arrangements are written to expire on December 31, 2026 (Russia runs to December 31, 2027; Brunei has no end date). No blanket extension had been announced as of mid-November 2026. Do not build a 2027 trip on 30 days visa-free; build it on 240-hour transit, an L visa, or a port visa. Our visa-free expiry explainer tracks the status.
The National Immigration Administration's policy page (updated August 20, 2026, when Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added) is authoritative. Read it before choosing a route, because the route has to obey it.
| Question | Answer (NIA, August 2026) |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Ordinary-passport holders from 57 countries — the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, the UK, Ireland, Russia, Serbia, Belarus, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, Indonesia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan |
| How long | Up to 240 hours / 10 days. The clock starts at 00:00 the day after entry, so arrival day is effectively a bonus |
| Where you can enter | 65 open ports in 24 provinces, mostly airports and cruise terminals, plus the West Kowloon high-speed rail port |
| Where you can travel | The permitted areas of those 24 provinces. Xinjiang and Tibet are excluded; some provinces restrict you to named cities (Shanxi: Taiyuan, Datong) |
| What you need | A confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region, with date and seat, plus a passport valid for the trip |
The exit must be a third country or region. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as separate regions, which is why Guangzhou → Shenzhen → Hong Kong is a legal transit while New York → Shanghai → New York is not. This single rule kills more itineraries than any other.
The clock is generous at the front, brutal at the back. Land at 06:00 and you get nearly eleven usable days; land at 23:00 and you burn a night in an airport hotel.
Registration is on you. Hotels register guests automatically; in an apartment or a friend's flat you must register within 24 hours — online since September 21, 2026 via the NIA site, 12367 app, WeChat or Alipay. Details in our 240-hour transit guide.
All four stay inside the 24 permitted provinces, so each works under 240-hour transit and under an ordinary visa. Pick by appetite, not by fame.
| Route | Best for | Long-distance rail | Entry / exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Imperial North | Depth over distance | Almost none | Beijing in / Beijing or Tianjin out |
| 2. Yangtze Delta | Food, gardens, water towns, one mountain | ~6 hours | Shanghai in / Shanghai out |
| 3. Greater Bay | Cantonese food, modern China, Hong Kong finish | ~3 hours | Guangzhou in / Hong Kong out |
| 4. Classic triangle | The postcard checklist | ~11 hours | Beijing in / Shanghai out |
Beijing municipality alone absorbs ten days, and one province-level region removes every question about permitted areas. Days 1–4 Beijing: Forbidden City, Jingshan, Beihai, Temple of Heaven at dawn, Lama Temple, Summer Palace. Days 5–7 the wall: Mutianyu with an overnight at Gubei Water Town, then a guided Jiankou hike — never solo, never in ice. Days 8–10 Tianjin (30 minutes, ¥54.5): Five Great Avenues, Italian Quarter, teahouse comedy.
Why it works: no long-distance rail, so no ticket lottery, and February Beijing is cold but empty — the Forbidden City in light snow is the best version of it. Weakness: −10°C nights. City detail is in the Beijing guide.
Our most-recommended route: every leg is short enough that ten days feels like four holidays.
| Day | Plan | Rail / notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Shanghai: the Bund at dawn, Pudong, Shanghai Museum, Former French Concession | Museum free with passport booking; decks ¥180–220 |
| 4 | Day trip to Suzhou: Humble Administrator's Garden, Pingjiang Road | 23–35 min, ~¥40 |
| 5 | Suzhou: Tongli or Zhouzhuang water town by canal boat | Sleep in Suzhou to avoid backtracking |
| 6–7 | Hangzhou: West Lake, Longjing tea village, Lingyin Temple | About 1h20 from Suzhou |
| 8 | Train to Huangshan North; Tunxi old street in the afternoon | About 1h30 |
| 9 | Huangshan by cable car, sunset at Bright Summit, sleep on the mountain | Park ticket ~¥190; the sunrise is why you sleep up there |
| 10 | Descend, train to Shanghai, depart | About 2h50 back to Shanghai |
Why it works: short legs, abundant hotels, the best English signage in the mainland. Weakness: this is the most internationalised China. Hotels: see the booking guide.
The warmest February option (18–24°C), the best food per yuan, and the only route where the exit doubles as a destination. Days 1–3 Guangzhou: yum cha in Liwan at 8–10am, Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, Shamian Island, Canton Tower. Day 4 Foshan: Ancestral Temple, lion dance, Shunde food. Days 5–8 Shenzhen (30 min, ¥74.5): OCT Loft, Dafen village, Nantou old town, a Macau day trip via Gongbei. Days 9–10 Hong Kong by rail (14 minutes from Futian), then fly out.
Why it works: weather, food, a two-city exit. Weakness: Hong Kong immigration is a separate regime — check your nationality's HK status first.
What nearly every first-timer wants; it fits ten days if you accept two long rail days. It also punishes bad planning hardest — two of the three stops are single-ticket bottlenecks.
| Day | Plan | Rail / notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Beijing: Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Mutianyu Great Wall | Book the Forbidden City the minute tickets open |
| 4 | Morning train to Xi'an; evening on the city wall, Muslim Quarter | 4h20–6h, ¥515.5 second class |
| 5 | Terracotta Army at opening time; Big Wild Goose Pagoda | ¥120 peak season; arrive 08:30 to beat the coaches |
| 6 | Shaanxi History Museum, Great Mosque, shadow-puppet show | Museum needs a free reservation days ahead |
| 7 | Morning train to Shanghai; the Bund at night | 6–7h, from about ¥670 second class |
| 8–10 | Shanghai: Pudong, Yu Garden, the former concession, Zhujiajiao; depart from Pudong | Allow three hours for international check-in |
Why it works: three different Chinas on one rail network. Weakness: two days vanish into train windows, and February 5–13 means festival crowds everywhere. Book hotels, rail and museums before December.
12306 sells tickets 15 days ahead including the travel date, and release is staggered by departure station between 08:00 and 18:00 Beijing time — no single national drop, and not midnight. Subtract 14 days from your travel date, then check that station's release time in the app.
| Travel date | Tickets open on 12306 | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Fri Jan 1, 2027 | Dec 18, 2026 | New Year long weekend |
| Thu Feb 4, 2027 | Jan 21, 2027 | Day one of the ten-day Spring Festival plan |
| Fri Feb 5, 2027 | Jan 22, 2027 | New Year's Eve — the hardest ticket of the year |
| Sat Feb 13, 2027 | Jan 30, 2027 | Return peak; morning departures go first |
| Fri Oct 1, 2027 | Sep 17, 2027 | National Day, the busiest rail week after Spring Festival |
Chunyun (春运) is a 40-day window — 15 days before New Year's Day, 25 after. In 2026 it ran February 2 to March 13 and moved 9.41 billion cross-region trips (+4.3%), including 538 million rail passengers and 94.4 million by air, peaking at 380 million trips on the sixth lunar day (Ministry of Transport and NDRC, March 2026). For 2027 expect the window to open around January 22; official dates normally appear in mid-January.
So for February 5–13: book the second tickets open, take the waitlist as backup, or fly between cities. Chunyun flights are expensive but available; cheap rail seats are gone.
Sale windows are in the high-speed rail guide; overnight legs in the sleeper guide.
Indicative mid-range figures, one person sharing a double room, excluding international flights.
| City | Daily total | 3-star / 4-star hotel | Metro ride |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing | ¥700–1,300 | ¥400–650 / ¥700–1,000 | ¥3–7 |
| Shanghai | ¥800–1,500 | ¥450–700 / ¥800–1,200 | ¥3–6 |
| Suzhou · Hangzhou | ¥600–1,100 | ¥350–550 / ¥650–950 | ¥2–5 |
| Xi'an | ¥500–950 | ¥300–500 / ¥550–850 | ¥2–5 |
| Guangzhou · Shenzhen | ¥650–1,200 | ¥350–600 / ¥650–1,000 | ¥2–6 |
| Hong Kong | ¥1,200–2,200 | HK$900–1,600 | HK$5–12 |
Route 2, ten days all in with rail and attractions: ¥9,000–14,000 (about US$1,250–1,950) per person. Add 20–30% for February 5–13 or October 1–7.
Not on the 57-country list? The fallback is an L visa — six to eight weeks, not six days. A port visa is an application channel, not a visa-free option, and tourism is not an eligible purpose for individuals.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 高铁 | gāotiě | High-speed rail — on station signs |
| 候补 | hòubǔ | Waitlist; the button you press when a train is sold out |
| 二等座 | èrděngzuò | Second class — the default, best-value seat |
| 过境免签 | guòjìng miǎnqiān | Transit visa-free; say this if an officer asks your status |
| 住宿登记 | zhùsù dēngjì | Accommodation registration — the 24-hour rule |
Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with an international card before arrival; a startling number of small vendors are cash-free.
Yes — if your passport is from one of the 57 transit countries, you arrive at one of the 65 designated ports, and you leave to a third country. Ten days is the ceiling, counted from 00:00 the day after entry. The 30-day unilateral list gives more room, but expires on December 31, 2026.
Yes — Beijing, Shaanxi and Shanghai are all within the permitted areas. You cannot add Xinjiang or Tibet. Confirm your city pair with hotline 12367 before buying non-refundable trains.
Fines run up to RMB 500 per day capped at RMB 10,000, and can lead to detention, deportation and an entry ban. If a cancellation makes overstay likely, apply for an extension at the local exit-entry administration before your permitted stay ends.
Last updated: November 12, 2026. Sources: State Council General Office, Notice on the 2027 Partial Holiday Arrangements (Guoban Famingdian [2026] No. 10, November 5, 2026, gov.cn); NIA 240-hour transit page (updated August 20, 2026) and accommodation-registration notice (September 21, 2026); Ministry of Transport / NDRC chunyun summaries (March 2026); Beijing frontier inspection briefing (November 6, 2026); 12306 presale rules (checked November 2026). Times, fares and rates are indicative — verify before booking.